ADVENT Failure
by Blackwal
Summary: X-COM Failed. Dr. Richard Tygan and Engineer Lily Shen construct an escape route from earth based on abandoned Alien Technology. Bradford and a few surviving X-COM operatives escape through this Portal and reach a new world that and wonder what their future's hold for them now!
1. Chapter 1

PERSONAL LOG: FEBRUARY 3RD 2016: X-COM HEADQUARTERS BREACHED BY ALIEN FORCES 90% OF PERSONEL CAPTURED OR KILLED I 'CENTRAL' BRADFORD BELIEVE MYSELF TO BE LAST REMAINING MEMBER OF X-COM CHAIN OF COMMAND.

PERSONAL LOG: FEBRUARY 7TH 2016: THE COUNCIL BETRAYED US LAST REMAINING LOYAL COUNCIL MEMBER HAS HELPED AS MANY STRANDED X-COM TEAMS AS HE COULD. SADLY NO VETERANS REMAIN OUTSIDE OF MYSELF. GOING INTO HIDING.

PERSONAL LOG: MARCH 25TH 2017: SHEN IS ALIVE. THE COUNCILMEN HAS PROVIDED ME INTEL ON WHERE THE ALIEN'S ARE HOLDING HIM AND SEVERAL OTHER X-COM ENGINEER'S. ASSEMBLING TASK FORCE WITH REMAINING X-COM FIELD OPERATIVES TO LIBERATE SHEN!

MISSION REPORT: APRIL 2ND 2017: MISSION SUCCESS SHEN LIBERATED ALONG WITH MANY X-COM ENGINEERS. ESCAPED FROM FACILITY IN STOLEN ALIEN SHIP.

PERSONAL LOG: APRIL 27TH: SHEN AND A FEW OTHERS REMAIN BUT THE MAJORITY OF WHO WE RESCUED ARE NO LONGER INTERESTED IN THE FIGHT AND HAVE ASKED PERMISSION TO LEAVE. I GRANTED THEIR REQUEST. CAN'T SAY I BLAME THEM.

PERSONAL LOG: DECEMBER 25TH 2024: SAD CHRISTMAS SHEN PASSED AWAY IN HIS SLEEP PEACEFULLY. MAN HAD BEEN ILL FOR MONTHS BUT REFUSED TO STOP WORKING ON HIS SHIP OUR 'AVENGER' HE CALLED IT. TOUGH OLD BASTARD. STARTING TOMMOROW HIS DAUGHTER LILY SHEN WILL TAKE UP HIS ROLE AS CHIEF ENGINEER AT BOTH HIS AND HER OWN REQUEST.

PERSONAL LOG: JUNE 7TH 2032: RECRUITMENT AND TRAINING INIATIVES FINALLY PAYING OFF. KIDS ARE YOUNG AND EAGER AND HAVE NO ILLUSIONS ABOUT BEING HEROS BUT I FINALLY HAVE THE FORMATION OF A REAL TASK FORCE AGAIN.

MISSION REPORT: JANUARY 19TH 2033: ADVENT DEFECTOR SUCCESSFULLY RETRIEVED DR. RICHARD TYGAN. SHORTLY AFTER BRING HIM ONBOARD HE CRACKED HIS OWN SKULL OPEN AND FORCIBLY REMOVED AN ALIEN IMPLANT FROM HIS OWN BRAIN HIS LAST INSTRUCTION BEFORE PASSING OUT WAS TO RUN. WE BARELY ESCAPED BEFORE ADVENT FORCES SWARMED OUR LOCATION.

PERSONAL LOG: JANUARY 23RD 2033: TYGAN HAS BEEN A VAULT OF INFORMATION. HE HAS EXPLAINED MANY THINGS ABOUT ADVENTS PROTOCOLS AND PROCEDURES AS WELL AS GIVEN US MANY TARGETS OF OPPORTUNITY TO ASSAULT.

PERSONAL LOG: JANUARY 23RD 2033: TYGAN MENTIONED ONE TARGET IN PARTICULAR OF INTEREST. ADVENT REFER TO TARGET AS 'CRADLE'. I HAVE SPOKEN WITH THE COUNCILMAN ON THIS AND HE KNEW NOTHING ABOUT THIS CODE NAME OR THE TARGET. I HAVE DISPATCHED PERSONNEL TO GATHER ANY AND ALL INFORMATION ABOUT THIS 'CRADLE'.

PERSONAL LOG: NOVEMBER 20TH 2034: THE COMMANDER IS ALIVE. HE IS THE 'CRADLE'. ALIEN FORCES MOVE HIM MONTHLY TO VARIOUS GENEBANKS. WE ARE GATHERING INTEL ON WHEN AND WHERE HE WILL BE IN THE FUTURE. RECOVERING THE COMMANDER IS A TOP PRIORITY!

MISSION LOG: MARCH 3RD 2035: MISSION SUCCESSFUL. THE COMMANDER HAS BEEN RECOVERED AND TYGAN HAS SAFELY REMOVED HIS IMPLANT.

PERSONAL LOG: MARCH 25TH 2035: THINGS HAVE TURNED AROUND. THE COMMANDERS CHARISMA AND LEADERSHIP HAS REVITALIZED THE X-COM INNITATIVE. ALREADY WE HAVE NEW RESISTANCE CELLS POPPING UP ANYWHERE HE SENDS A MISSION. HE HAS DONE MORE IN HIS ONE MONTH BACK IN COMMAND THAN I HAVE ACCOMPLISHED IN YEARS. THOUGH HE MAKES IT CLEAR I AM THE ONLY REASON HE IS STILL STANDING TO FIGHT TODAY. THE MAN TRUELY IS AN INSPIRATION.

MISSION REPORT: APRIL 7TH: MISSION SUCCESSFUL. LILY SHEN ALONG WITH TEAM 'CYNOSURE' RAIDED ABANDONED ADVENT MEC FACILITY. FORMER CHIEF ENGINEER SHEN WAS HELD AT THIS FACILITY AND DESIGNED TWO AI, AS WELL AS A PROTOTYPE MEC UNIT MORE DURABLE AND VERSATILE THAN ANYTHING ADVENT HAS EVER DEVELOPED. TEAM 'CYNOSURE' RECOVERED THE MEC AND THE AI LILY IS DUBBING 'SPARK' SECOND AI 'JULIAN' WAS DESTROYED AFTER FIRST TRYING TO KILL X-COM TEAM.

PERSONAL LOG: SEPTEMBER 26TH 2035: MISSIONS HAVE BEEN PROCEEDING WELL. WE HAVE DISCOVERED A SECRET ALIEN PROJECT THEY HAVE CLASSIFIED AS 'AVATAR'. THE COMMANDER IS DIVERTING A LARGE PORTION OF OUR RESOURCES TO THE DISCOVERY AND DESTRUCTION OF THE PROJECT.

PERSONAL LOG: JANUARY 1ST 2036: WE ARE BEING HUNTED MORE VICIOUSLY THAN EVER BEFORE. TEAM 'CYNOSURE' WITH TEAMS 'VALENCE, UNRIVALED, TESTAMENT' RUNNING INTERFERENCE PERFORMED SUCCESSFUL COVERT OPERATION THAT WE BELIEVE HAS SET BACK THE 'AVATAR' PROJECT YEARS. TEAMS 'VALENCE, UNRIVALED, TESTAMENT' WILL BE MISSED BUT THEIR SACRIFICE HAS GIVEN US A CHANCE SO LONG AS WE CAN EVADE OUR PURSUERS.

PERSONAL LOG: JANUARY 4TH 2036: WE HAVE BEEN SHOT DOWN IN THE CANADIAN ROCKIES. AVENGER IS SCRAPPED POOR THING IS STILL EXPLODING A FULL DAY AFTER THE CRASH. ALIEN FORCES HAVE RANSACKED THE CRASH SITE KILLING ANY SURVIVORS BEFORE LEAVING. IT HAS BEEN A HARD DAY LESS THAN TWENTY PEOPLE MANAGED TO SURVIVE THE CRASH AND ESCAPE DETECTION BY THE ALIENS.

PERSONAL LOG: JANUARY 7TH 2036: TYGAN AND THE COMMANDER HAVE A PLAN. NOT A PLAN FOR VICTORY BUT ONE FOR ESCAPE. RADIO CHATTER INDICATES THAT WHATEVER THE 'AVATAR' PROJECT WAS WE DIDN'T STOP, THE ALIENS HAVE ACCELERATED IT AND ENTIRE CITIES ARE BEING PROCESSED. TURNED INTO RESOURCES FOR THE ALIENS TO HARVEST AT THEIR LEISURE. I DON'T KNOW WHAT THE PLAN IS BUT I HAVE VOLUNTEERED TO GO WITH TEAM 'CYNOSURE' ON THIS LAST MISSION.

MISSION REPORT: JANUARY 9TH 2036: MISSION SUCCESSFUL. WE SUCCESSFULLY ACQUIRED THE DATA TYGAN NEEDED. WE DIDN'T EVEN SPOT ANY ALIEN FORCES.

PERSONAL LOG: JANUARY 15TH 2036: TYGAN AND SHEN HAVE STRIPED THE REMAINS OF THE AVENGER, THEY ARE BUILDING A GATE OF SOME SORT. CONSTRUCTION APPEARS NEARING COMPLETION WHICH IS GOOD. EVERY RADIO CHANNEL ON THE PLANET HAS BEEN DEAD FOR THE PAST THREE DAYS, NOT EVEN STATIC. I HAVE KEPT MYSELF BUSY GATHERING ANYTHING OF SALVAGE FROM THE AVENGER FOOD WEAPONS AMMUNITION BODY ARMOR.

FINAL LOG: JANUARY 23RD 2036: THE PORTAL IS COMPLETE. WE HAVE NO READING ON WHAT, IF ANYTHING, IS ON THE OTHER SIDE. FOR ALL I KNOW EVERY PIECE OF GEAR WE HAVE ROLLED THROUGH AND ANYONE BRAVE ENOUGH TO WALK THROUGH IT SO FAR HAS BEEN VAPORIZED BY THE GREEN ENERGY FIELD. ONLY MYSELF AND THE COMMANDER REMAIN POSSIBLY THE LAST TWO HUMANS LEFT ON EARTH.

* * *

Looking up from his personal computer he looked at the green disk and the man standing in front of it.

"Commander, we are the last two, are you ready to take the step?" Bradford looked at the man he respected, the man who in the past week's had aged, he was still strong and fit but his eyes their light was missing maybe something that would never return but beyond that his presence was gone, even at the worst of times Bradford would feel bolstered and confident around the Commander but now that was gone.

"I don't think I am 'Central', sorry I mean Bradford." his eyes shifted to the disk of energy and he turned and walked away from it.

"Commander, we only have limited time, the portal's energy can only last so long!" Bradford knew exactly how long it would last, Tygan before passing through it had told him the energy left in the 'Avenger' would power it for the better part of a day before the reactor went critical and would erase the portal and likely the mountain from existence, that was almost a day ago now. He never expected the Commander of all people to have cold feet about crossing the threshold the man had actually talked several others into taking the plunge themselves.

"I know that quite well Bradford, honestly I wish you had just walked through the portal hours ago and left this pathetic man to his demons!" There was no anger or spite behind the Commander's words only a deep resignation.

"You never intended to come with us did you?" Bradford looked at the man he respected and felt a great sorrow, here was a man who did his utmost twice to save humanity and both times he had failed, once betrayed by the very committee that put him in his position and again when he lacked the resources to make a true difference in the fight.

"No, I suppose I didn't." The Commander reached into his jacket and pulled out a cigarette and matchbook, something Bradford had never once seen the Commander do.

Behind the two men, the portal rippled and a loud groan started to issue forth from the remains of the 'Avenger'.

"My mind is made up Bradford, I intend to spend my last minutes alive on the Earth I failed, you, on the other hand, have a decision to make, step through that portal and see where life takes you or bask in the glow of one final sunset." The Commander makes a gesture to the sky with it being the middle of the afternoon Bradford was pretty sure the sunset the Commander was speaking of would be the explosion that he could hear slowly building power deep in the 'Avenger'.

As painful as it was to leave the man behind Bradford knew his answer, even if it meant an instant death on whatever was through the portal he had his people to look after. He respected the Commander's decision and felt, no, knew if he was the Commander he would likely make the same decision.

"SIR, It has been my privilege to serve under your command!" Bradford, with a quick crisp motion, saluted his Commanding officer for the last time before turning and stepping through the portal.

Alone, the man looked to the sky and smiled, he would have liked to visit a new world but Tygan and Shen had shared one piece of information with him that no one else knew. The aliens had never managed to get this technology to work, If they had they would have used it to escape whatever demons they themselves were running from. Both warned him that if they detected the portals energies they would likely come to claim it.

Standing he watched as dozens of Alien and Advent Ships started to appear along the horizon, flicking his cigarette away he reached into his coat one last time to pull out a detonator, Tygan had placed a small yet powerful explosive at the base of the 'Avengers' reactor to help speed up its inevitable breach and destruction.

Not one to take a risk of a lucky shot from an Alien sniper the Commander smiled and pressed the button the reaction was immediate and he was enveloped in a White/Green light as his body turned to ash.

* * *

"Bradford! Get up we need to move!" The trip through the portal had been jarring and he was beyond disoriented he focused on the voice talking to him trying to place it.

"Joe..." Bradford recognized the voice as the leader of Team 'Cynosure', "Report, what's the situation?" The world swam in front of his eyes and was slowly coming into focus his ears were picking up the sounds of gunfire.

"I'm not entirely sure sir, we are being attacked by what we assume is the indigenous wildlife, giant hulking beasts resembling Bear's and Wolves from our world but much larger!" Joe looked at Bradford and seeing the color return to his cheeks waved his 'R-VER' away.

Whatever effect the portal had on him was fading rapidly and the sounds of battle became more distinct, sounding less like a confrontation with wild animals and more like a full-fledged firefight. "What's the scale of the attack?"

"We are surrounded on three sides with a sheer cliff at our backs, probably the only reason we haven't been overrun, our weapons are effective and the beasts don't seem too intelligent, just throwing themselves at us."

Bradford looked around for the first time his force was as Joe described it surrounded. Worse than that aside from Team 'Cynosure' only Lily Shen and 'SPARK' appeared to be participation in the fight. "Where are the others that came through the portal?" Bradford feared the answer he could see traces of blood everywhere as his eyes began to pick apart the battlefield trying to find a solution to their situation.

"Dr. Tygan is working Triage behind those rocks." Joe pointed to an outcrop. "Most who came through the portal are injured or dead, sir, we were attacked almost instantly, Aside from Team 'Cynosure', Shen, Tygan, 'SPARK' and now yourself we have no one else active at the moment."

 _If they have been under attack since shortly after stepping through the portal this fight has been raging for almost a full day!_ Join the firing line but send me Lily we need a plan!

Joe hopped to his feet and raced back to the line replacing Lily Shen who moved to where Bradford stood digging through crates of gear that had been pushed through the portal hunting for a proper weapon and body armor for himself.

"Sir, Joe said you needed me for a plan?" Lily asked, she was covered in a greasy black substance but appeared unharmed.

"Maybe, 'SPARK' might be able to win this fight we just need to find the right gear, your experimental Laser weapon, you were still working on miniaturizing it but you had a prototype that 'SPARK' could wield, our Magnetic rounds already tear through these creatures but a sustained laser beam might clear our enough for us to give us a chance!" Bradford spoke as he upended another Crate looking the weapon in question.

"That's possible, I'll need to make some adjustments for it to fire a permanent stream." Lily went to a crate and pulled the weapon in question from its depths.

"Equip, 'SPARK' as soon as your done I'm going to join the firing line!" With that Bradford got his first look at the creatures his force was fighting, Joe's description was fairly valid they did resemble monstrously large Wolves and Bears, though completely black in coloration with strange white bone-like plates in places.

Eventually 'SPARK' disappeared from the firing line the loss was felt instantly as the computer targeting of the MEC gone Bradford and the members of team 'Cynosure had a hard time filling his spot for the brief time he was gone.

'SPARK' leapt out from behind the boulder is had vanished brandishing it's new laser weapon and pulled the trigger, a lance of searing red light appeared from the weapon and in one smooth motion 'SPARK' swept the deadly beam across the attacking creatures rank's instantly decimating the creatures so completely that they were out of targets in moments.

A cheer went up from the survivors but the cheer died quickly as the weapon "SPARK' was holding began to issue a loud whine before promptly exploding in the MEC's arm all but destroying their savior.

What should have been a moment of celebration changed into a somber moment as the glade turned quiet outside of the gentle sobs of grief issuing from Lily Shen at the loss of the last remaining connection she had with her deceased father.

* * *

 **X-COM in the RWBYverse!**

 **Yeah it has been done before either RWBY fighting the Aliens or X-COM fighting Grimm but hey I felt like writing this as I had just failed a Long War 2 playthrough and figured why not have some fun with my favorite squad of troopers and see what I could do to blend my Favorite Game ATM with one of my favorite shows.**

 **For those who know me, I try and stay away from OC characters this story will be an exception to the rule.**

 **The four members of Team 'Cynosure' are basically four characters from my Long War game that made a serious lasting impact on my playthrough, while playing I gave each character their own personality and each will feel uniquely different.**

 **Anyways!**

 **Follow / Favorite / Review**

 **I like all those things especially the Reviews cannot get enough of them!**


	2. Chapter 2

NEW LOG: DATE: UNKNOWN: TIME: UNKNOWN LOCATION: UNKNOWN

FIELD LOG: 001: DAY 1 - PORTAL WAS SUCCESSFUL. ESCAPE FORCES ATTACKED BY HOSTILE INDIGENOUS LIFE FORMS SHORTLY AFTER ARRIVAL. SURVIVING MEMBERS OF ESCAPE FORCE ARE NOW TEN TOTAL. TEAM 'CYNOSURE' (JOE SZALAJ, MITCHELL HAINSWORTH, KAY WATSON, WAYNE QUENNELLE), DR. RICHARD TYGAN, LILY SHEN, OPERATIVE 'REPENTER', 'SPARK' AND MYSELF ARE ALL THAT REMAIN.

'SPARK' CRITICALLY DAMAGED DURING CONFLICT WITH INDIGENOUS WILDLIFE, PRIMARY MEC FRAME RENDERED INOPERABLE[DESTROYED]

OPERATIVE 'REPENTER' WOUNDED AND UNCONCIOUS, EXPECTED TO MAKE SWIFT RECOVERY.

FIELD LOG: 002: DAY 2 - LILY SHEN HAS REFITTED A 'R-VER' UNIT TO HOUSE 'SPARK'. RICHARD TYGAN HAS SET UP A TEMPORARY LAB WITH THE HELP OF JOE SZALAJ AND WAYNE QUENNELLE. THE THREE MEN HAVE BEEN TESTING ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING THEY CAN GET THEIR HANDS ON. MYSELF AND MITCHELL HAVE BEEN DIGGING GRAVES TO BURY OUR DEAD. KAY WATSON IS DOING INVENTORY ON OUR SUPPLIES. ONE GOOD PIECE OF NEW FROM THAT FRONT APPARENTLY WE HAVE A LOT OF ALCHOHOL.

FIELD LOG: 003: DAY 7 - 'REPENTER' HAS REGAINED CONSCIOUSNESS. TYGAN IS ECSTATIC THE MAN PULLED THROUGH, THAT AT LEAST ONE OF HIS TRIAGE PATIENTS DURING THE ATTACK SURVIVED. TODAY WAS THE FIRST DAY SINCE THE ATTACK WE ENCOUNTERED ANY OF THE HOSTILE WILDLIFE AGAIN. A PACK OF THE WOLF LOOKING CREATURES ENTERED THE AREA AROUND OUR CAMP. KAY WATSON DEALT WITH THE BEASTS WITH HER RIFLE. WE PREPARED FOR ANOTHER FULL-SCALE ATTACK BUT AFTER SEVERAL HOURS NO MORE LIFE FORMS APPEARED.

FIELD LOG: 004: DAY 10 - TYGAN AND SHEN WERE FINALLY READY TO SHARE THE RESULTS OF THE TESTS THEY HAVE BEEN RUNNING.

IMPORTANT TOPICS -

GRAVITY - GRAVITY HERE IS MARGINALLY LESS THAN EARTH. IF EARTHS GRAVITY IS BASELINE 1.0 OUR NEW HOME TYGAN ASSUMES IS A 0.9. THIS CHANGE NOW THAT WE HAVE BEEN MADE AWARE OF IT PEOPLE HAVE NOTICED LESS FATIGUE AND INCREASED STRENGTH.

MOON / ORBIT - PLANETS MOON IS SHATTERED AND HAS AN INCONSISTENT ORBIT BETWEEN ITSELF AND OUR NEW WORLD. TYGAN IS LOATHE TO LAUNCH ANY LOW ORBIT SATILITES UNTIL HE AND SHEN TRACE THE MOONS TRADGECTORY FOR A LONGER PERIOD OF TIME.

RADIO - RADIO WAVES ARE BEING USED ACROSS THE PLANET WHICH MEANS THERE IS INTELLIGENT LIFE. SHEN HAS YET TO FIGURE OUT HOW TO LISTEN IN ON THESE SIGNALS BUT AT LEAST THEY DO NOT INTERFERE WITH OUR OWN COMMUNICATION EQUIPMENT.

LIFE - TWO DIFFERING TYPES OF WILDLIFE DISCOVERED. BOTH DISTINCTLY REMINISCENT OF ANIMALS FROM EARTH.

HOSTILE LIFE FORMS - NOT MUCH IS KNOWN - BODIES TURN TO BLACK SUBSTANCE ON DEATH - WHILE ALIVE THEY ATTACK ANYTHING THAT ISN'T ONE OF THEM.

NON-HOSTILE LIFE FORMS - SIGHTINGS UNCOMMON BUT FROM PICTURES CAPTURED BY WAYNE QUENNELLE THESE ANIMALS APPEAR TO BE STRIKINGLY SIMILAR TO EARTH CREATURES. WE HAVE PICTURES CONFIRMING ANIMALS THAT LOOK LIKE DEER, RABBIT'S AND OTHER ANIMALS MULTIPLE TYPES OF BIRDS AND REPTILES AS WELL.

ENERGY - TYGAN AND SHEN HAVE WARNED ABOUT AN OPEN ENERGY IN THE AIR OF THIS WORLD THEY DON'T BELIEVE IT TO BE DANGEROUS OF HARMFUL TO US BUT SHEN THINKS IT HAD SOMETHING TO DO WITH THE EFFECTIVENESS AND POTENTIALLY RAPID OVERLOAD OF 'SPARK' PROTOTYPE LASER WEAPON. [HAVE TO SAY I'M GLAD SHEN DIDN'T FINISH THAT PROJECT BEFORE WE CAME HERE OR THE FIRST COUPLE MINUTES WOULD HAVE BEEN ALL WE HAD IF EVERY WEAPON WAS GOING TO EXPLODE]

FIELD LOG: 005: DAY 25 - SHEN AND JOE HAVE FINISHED THEIR PROJECT. THE TWO ALTERED SEVERAL 'R-VER' UNITS TO BE MAKSHIT CARTOGRAPHERS. THE UNITS HAVE PROVED TO BE INVALUABLE FOR SCOUTING AND BEYOND THAT IT IS KEEPING PEOPLE BUSY.

FIELD LOG: 006: DAY 36 - KAY WATSON FINALLY FINISHED A COMPLETE INVENTORY OF ALL SUPPLIES AND THE LIST IS LONGER AND MORE DIVERSE THAN EVEN I EXPECTED.

WE HAVE RATIONS THAT COULD EASILY LAST WELL PAST THE POINT THE 9 OF US COULD POSSIBLY LIVE, WITH THIS KNOWLEDGE I HAVE REVOKED THE RATIONING SYSTEM WE HAVE BEEN USING WAYNE WAS THE HAPPIEST TO HEAR THIS NEWS.

SHEN AND TYGAN ARE HAPPY TO HAVE A FULL CATALOGUE OF WHAT EQUIPMENT THEY HAVE TO WORK WITH AS WELL.

COMBAT EQUIPMENT ARMOR WEAPONS AMMUNITION WE HAVE STAGGERING AMOUNTS OF AMMUNITION. WITH THE CONVENTIAL RIFLES ALONE WE HAVE ENOUGH TO FIGHT A LARGE WAR. THE CONVENTIONAL WEAPONRY AND AMMUNITION HAVE BEEN CRATED UP AND TUCKED AWAY FOR THE TIME BEING. TESTS INDICATE THAT WHATEVER ENERGY THAT IS IN THE AIR IS ALSO AFFECTING THE MAGNETIC WEAPONS THE RANGE PENETRATION AND ACCURACY SEEMS TO BE MARKEDLY IMPROVED. AMMO RESEVESE FOR MAGNETIC WEAPONS IN MORE THAN SUFFICIENT FOR THE FORESEEABLE FUTURE. [I KNOW I FEEL MORE CONFIDENT USING THESE OVER THE NORMAL WEAPONS, WILL MAKE IT A LOW PRIORITY TO SHEN TO FIND A WAY TO FABRICATE MORE MAGNETIC AMMUNITION]

AMONG THE CACHE OF GEAR WE HAVE ONE SPIDER SUIT AND ONE EXO-SUIT. KAY WATSON CLAIMED THE SPIDER SUIT IMMEDIATELY NO ONE WAS OPPOSED TO THIS AS IT APPEARED TO BE THE ONE SHE WORE DURING MISSIONS ON EARTH. WAYNE QUENNELLE CLAIMED THE EXO SUIT AGAIN WITH NO ISSUES THIS TIME IT WAS A LOGICAL CHOICE AS HE WAS THE ONLY ONE HERE WHO COULD EASILY WEAR IT AS THE SUIT EVEN IN THE LOWER GRAVITY WAS HEAVY AND CUMBERSOME TO WEAR.

FIELD LOG: 007: DAY 42 - THE 'R-VER' UNITS HAVE BEGUN TO GIVE US A CLEAR PICTURE OF THE TERRAIN AS WELL AS A FEW FRIGHTENING PICTURES OF OTHER BLACK CREATURES MUCH LARGER THAN THE WOLF AND BEAR ONES WE HAVE FOUGHT ALREADY. ASIDE FROM THESE SOBERING EXAMPLES OF CREATURES NO ONE WANTS TO FACE THE DRONES DISCOVERED WHAT APPEARS TO BE A ROAD. SHEN, TYGAN, AND JOE LOOKED OVER THE 3-D IMAGES FOR MANY HOURS AND ARE CONFIDENT THAT IT COULD BE NOTHING ELSE BUT A ROAD. WE HAVE SENT SEVERAL 'R-VER' UNITS TO TAKE UP POSITIONS ALONG THIS ROAD TO RETURN IN A WEEKS TIME HOPEFULLY WITH IMAGES OF WHAT EITHER MADE THE ROADS OR TRAVELS ON THEM CURRENTLY.

FIELD LOG: 008: DAY 49 - HUMAN LIFE, LITERAL HUMANS. THE 'R-VER' UNITS RETURNED WITH A BOUNTY OF INFORMATION THE MOST IMPORTANT NEWS THOUGH IS THIS WORLD IS INHABITED BY HUMANS AND SOME TYPE OF HUMAN ANIMAL HYBRIDS, WHATS MORE IS THE ONE 'R-VER' THAT WAS OUTFITTED TO RECORD AUDIO CLEARLY HAS THE PEOPLE WALKING PAST IT WAS SPEAKING PLAIN ENGLISH.

WHO KNOWS WHEN OR WHERE WE ARE BUT SOMEHOW OR ANOTHER WE ENDED UP IN A TIME AND PLACE WHERE THERE ARE NOT ONLY HUMANS BUT ONES THAT SPEAK A LAUNGUAGE WE COULD UNDERSTAND.

I HAVE SENT JOE SZALAJ AND MITCHELL HAINSWORTH WHO WILL BE NOW GOING BY THERE CALL SIGN'S [CLAWSDOWN, SKIE] TO INVESTIGATE THE ROAD BOTH MEN ARE EQUIPPED WITH LONG RANGE RADIO'S AS WELL AS ANY EQUIPMENT THEY DEEMED NESSICARY.

THE REST OF US ARE PACKING UP OUR CAMP AND STOWING AWAY NONE ESSENTIAL GEAR IN PREPARATION TO MOVE OUT IF OUR FIELD OPERATIVES RESPOND WITH GOOD NEWS.

* * *

"You see those pictures, not a single person had a vehicle, not even a horse everyone was just walking. Your drones followed that road a day in either direction and never found a single settlement." Mitchell walked through the thick underbrush with ease, he wasn't aware of it but Joe was staring daggers through his back as he tripped over another moss covered rock.

"Your point being exactly?" Joe moved to walk beside his partner his personal 'R-VER' unit hovering just behind him.

"My point is are what if the people of this world are just... well technologically disadvantaged. Between Tygan, Shen and yourself we could be set just by teaching the locals a few easy tricks to make their lives easier."

"Make their lives easier sure, and let you reap the benefits as well I assume?" Joe smiled to himself, he had seen Mitchell ogling several of the pictures for inappropriate amounts of time, hell he admitted himself that almost everyone traveling this road the two of them were heading to were impressive to look at.

"Hey! If they are offering who am I to refuse?"

"Trust me if there is any offering to be had once they figure you out your going to be back to where you are now, all talk."

"That's cruel man coming from you, not everyone has as easy time as you when talking with women, hell Kay looks so pent up I'm surprised she hasn't thrown herself at you yet and don't get me started on Shen, I think your the only one that still fails's to realize and refuses to believe that she's pining for you too. Joe Szalaj one of the last survivors of humanity and the last two women from Earth all but falling to your charms if only you weren't the most oblivious person in existence!" Mitchell turned and smiled at his longtime friend and could see once again his words had no effect his partner already waving away his argument.

* * *

"Do you think they are all like this?" Mitchell sat at the side of the road to his partner who was hiding in the trees nearby.

"It is possible, the pictures did a poor job at displaying height or size of the inhabitants accurately, so maybe they will all be so..." Joe looked down the road at the most recent group that had passed where Mitchell sat.

"Small is the word you are looking for! Though tiny, petite, diminutive could also accurately describe them as well!" Mitchell stretched his back and shifted uncomfortably.

The two had reached the road ahead of schedule and had set about observing the traffic, after a days watch both men had become curious of how the inhabitants would react to their presence and if they would notice if anything was different.

Joe had spent the first day on the side of the road fully visible to any traffic and drew little attention, ever with his weapon visible and armor equipped no one on the road paid him much mind aside from a few travellers wishing him happy hunting and thanking him for his protection, unsure how to respond Joe limited his responses to short curt responses and simple gestures.

The second day Mitchell took the position on the road and while again the responses to his presence were the same he received a great deal more stares.

Joe was not a large man by any means for someone from there earth, he stood at a height of 5'10" and weighed 150 pounds at best and easily passed for one of the natives. Mitchell, on the other hand, stood at 6'4" and weighed 320 pounds and not a single ounce of that weight was anything but muscle, sitting alongside the road he drew and held stares from his huge physique.

"I was trying to be more polite about it but yeah these people are small, even compared to me sure we have seen a bunch already that are taller than me but not a single one would be a stocky as myself, and considering the reactions your getting I would say its safe to assume you and Wayne will probably dwarf most people on this planet by a pretty wide margin!"

"Hah, yeah, Wayne and I will turn some heads. Anyways what's the word from the others? As much as I enjoy sitting on my ass all day does Bradford have an ETA on their arrival yet?" Mitchell stood and hefted his rifle, quickly making sure his small Sawed-off Shotgun was still firmly fastened to his shoulder as well as his knife was secure it's sheathe before turning and joining Joe in the shade of the tree line having had enough sun for the day!

"They set out this morning, assuming they take the route we took we can expect them here in two days. In the meantime, we are just to basically keep doing what we have been by judging the response the locals have to us." Joe looked over their instructions from Bradford again to make sure there was not another way to interpret the instructions.

"Hey, one of your motion trackers off the road is going off, why is it muted?" Mitchell looked over the screen that kept track of the perimeter they had established seeing one sensor had been activated recently.

"Sector nine?"

"Uh, yeah nine, why is that important?"

"I have been out there three times already and reset the damn thing it's actually what I have this for." Joe lifted his hand showing two extra sensors. "Come on I want to plant these near the malfunctioning one and bring that one back so I can figure out what's wrong with it.

"Alright, lead on then."

The two men entered the brush and both men tensed ready and watching for any movement in the dense foliage, X-COM training making them appear calm and relaxed but both men stood ready for anything. A short walk was all it took for them to reach sector nine, Joe quickly planted and synced up the two new sensors and removed the malfunctioning one from the system.

"All good let's head back." Joe turned and went silent instantly bringing his weapon us as his partner was crouched low with his weapon raised watching something which Joe from his angle couldn't see.

Using a hand sign Mitchell waved Joe towards a tree that would allow Joe vision of the target as well as provide cover, once Joe was in position Mitchell advanced to another tree himself and both men watched in silence as a monstrously large scorpion moved with frightening silence through the tree's only meters from their location.

In short order, the creature moved past their location and vanished from sight.

"It's heading closer to the road!" Joe plotted its path in his mind knowing where it would appear in minutes.

"Shit, ok so what's the plan? I'm not sure how effective our rifles will be against that and we only have a grenade each the rest are still back at our camp!"

"We follow, if the road is unoccupied we let it go if there are civilians present and it attacks them you will engage and I will gather more explosives from our camp site." Joe tossed his partner his grenade and the two men followed the creature in silence.

As they neared the road multiple screams split the air. "Shit, I'm going for more explosives!" With that Joe dove into the bush heading back to their camp to arm himself better, Mitchell, on the other hand, closed the last few meters to the roadside and saw the giant scorpion closing in a group of people attempting to flee from the beast.

Mitchell knew the limit of how far he could throw a grenade and the beast was well beyond that already, pulling his rifle up he opened fire hoping the attack would distract the creature, what he didn't expect was his barrage to tear through the beast in a similar fashion to how it tore through the wolf and bear like creatures.

The scorpion monster turned to face him, it was bleeding a viscous black liquid from the many holes in its body but it was still mobile and charged Mitchell.

The shock of how effective his attacks had been wore off quickly and Mitchell reloaded his rifle, preparing a much more accurate shot he aimed for the creature's eyes hoping that behind them there was a vital organ or two, with a steady pressure he squeeze the trigger sending a short burst into the creature's eyes and skull causing the beast to lose any form of motor control as it fell and plowed into the earth before beginning to dissolve into an inky black substance that all these creatures seemed to do upon death.

As the creature finished it's dying process Joe crash's through the trees equipped with an assortment of grenades and carrying a bag of ammunition only to stop dead in his tracks.

"You killed it? How? I didn't hear a single explosion!" Joe looked at his partner in confusion.

"I, uh, shot it..." Mitchell stood where he had killed the beast and was in a state of disbelief about it as well. "The ammunition just tore through its body with no resistance."

"Not that I'm not grateful for you saving a buncha 'Vale' citizens what are two of Ironwood's flunkies doing so far from home?"

Both soldiers turned to stare at the source of the voice that was clearly speaking to them and raised their weapons inspecting the speaker.

The man stood tall and was clearly more fit than the other people who walked this road, he wore grey and white shirt with black pants and held a very large sword in his right hand waving it around with easy, the person had red eye's that with the practised ease of a professional swapped between the two men who had weapons point at him, the strangest thing about the man was that with his free hand he was casually opening flask and proceeded to take a long drink from it.

* * *

 **Hey, look its Qrow!**

 **I am having a ton of fun with this story and it's only the second chapter.**

 **Anyways not much to say at this point!**

 **Follow / Favorite / Review**

 **Love all those things!**


	3. Chapter 3

"I'm sorry, but we aren't affiliated with this 'Ironwood', I am Joe Szalaj and this is Mitchell Hainsworth. We are part of a group of refugee's... the details of where we came from to be considered refugees is... complex." Both X-COM operatives lowered their weapons to a relaxed but still ready posture.

"Uh... right. Sure..., well I'm not one for dealing with complex, Taiyang! These two are apparently not 'Atlas' and have referred to themselves as 'complex', that means this is your problem since they aren't running or fighting." With that, the man placed his weapon behind his back and adopted a relaxed posture while gently taking another drink from his flask.

From the tree line another man appeared, a Blonde man who carried himself much like the first with an attitude of assured confidence, unlike the first man though the Blonde had a carefree expression and seemingly carried no weapon.

"Thank you Qrow, way to give away that you weren't alone." The blonde reached the other man and smacked the back of his head hard.

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FOR!? Do you know how hard it is to find a good drink all the way out here, you made me spill most of what I had left!" The red eye's male eyed the Blonde like he was going to attack.

Both X-COM operatives watched this entire exchange with strict discipline, keeping a careful watch on both men while carefully scanning the tree line to look for other hidden people. As the two men argued among themselves about proper mission conduct, Mitchell quickly caught Joe's attention and indicated two locations in the tree line, Joe followed the indications and now that his attention was drawn to it clearly picked up two figures hiding still.

Gradually the conflict between the two men settled.

'COUGH'

"Sorry about that, Qrow just need's constant reminders about a good many things, repeatedly... all the time." The blonde shot back a final look to the other who adopted a very insincere expression of innocence. "I am Taiyang Xaio Long, Professional Huntsman for the Kingdom of Vale, there you know who I am and where I'm from, would you be so kind as to elaborate on your refugee status and it's complexity?"

Joe and Mitchell exchanged a single glance that spoke volumes about how much both of them wanted nothing more to punch the cocky Blonde and go back to dealing with the other man instead.

"We are Operative's of the X-COM program, our planet was invaded by a hostile alien force which has achieved total domination, with stolen materials and technology we escaped our doomed world and arrived on this world." Joe recited off the shorthand response Bradford, Shen and Tygan had agreed upon for when we made contact with the locals, and only if they asked questions.

"My... that does seem frightfully complex." Taiyang looked at both men once before seemingly coming to a decision.

"Are you sure that's your story? you don't want to change anything? Like where you are from, and what you are doing in 'Vale' you know easy things, things maybe you forgot to mention." As the Blonde spoke he lowered himself slightly.

Joe quickly glanced at Mitchell, who was already watching Joe waiting for any number of silent signals Joe could make to relay quick silent instructions. Joe's glance spoke that he didn't want to fight, Mitchell's entire response was a simple shrug, meaning that he expected Joe to make the call, Joe watched as his partner shifted ever so slightly to better face the tree line and the other two adversaries.

"Look, we are not here for a fight, or anything along those lines, I understand my story was short and made no sense but the longer version is equally more complex. How about this, we will forfeit our weapons and equipment, is that acceptable?"

"HAH, Maybe they are telling the truth Tai, since when have we ever met anyone from Atlas that didn't have a stick up their ass!"

Joe watched Qrow with a sharp eye, the red-eyed man was now attempting to antagonize them into fighting, also the Blonde's stance seemed to indicate a posture of defense rather than offense, but with a foreign world, Joe could not be certain.

"Shut up Qrow! You, if you disarm you can have your shot to tell your story in detail to me and then we will see where we will go from there."

With the promise of at least hearing out the entire story as well as avoiding the fight Joe placed his rifle and pistol on the ground, adding to that was the belt of grenades he had grabbed to help with the giant scorpion, then a knife pulled from his boot, with that he was done and looked to the one called Taiyang who was still eyeing him with concern.

"Nothing else on my person is considered a weapon, my pouches contain only secondary gear and ammunition." Joe belatedly wondered if they would understand what ammunition meant.

"That's fine, keep the rest on what about your friend?"

"Mitchell!"

"I will in a second, but before I do could you have the two in the tree line join us, I would feel more comfortable if I didn't feel like I was about to be ambushed." With two simple head nods to the tree line, he pointed out the spots Taiyang knew his two remaining teammates hid in case this turned into a fight.

"I think that is reasonable. Summer, Raven cover is blown and were not fighting anyways you might as well come out."

Mitchell watched as the two figures emerged from the trees, the first that caught his eye was a woman that had a striking resemblance to the one named Qrow, she wore a fierce expression and carried a sword of some style in a hugely oversized sheath. The second figure he assumed was another female simply on the names the one Taiyang had called to get them to reveal themselves, this one though was thoroughly concealed but a large white cape and hood that no features could be seen.

Once the two were standing with the others the taller one assumed the same overly confident posture the one called Qrow already stood in, the cloaked figure neither Joe or Mitchell were sure what she was doing.

Mitchell quickly stripped off his weapons placing his Rifle and Sawed-off shotgun on the ground, adding his two grenades as well as a collection of knives, in short order he stood beside Joe, while Joe looked even smaller once his gear was removed Mitchell had almost the opposite effect, the lack of gear gave a clear definition to just how large and imposing he was.

"Okay, now start your story."

* * *

FIELD LOG: 009: DAY 54 - ARRIVED AT JOE AND MITCHELL'S CAMP, BOTH OPERATIVES CURRENTLY MISSING, OPERATIVES REPENTER, WATSON AND QUENNELLE ARE SWEEPING THE AREA FOR ANY SIGNS OF THEM.

FIELD LOG: 010: DAY 55 - JOE'S 'R-VER' UNIT RETURNED TODAY OF ITS OWN ACCORD RUNNING BASICALLY ON FUMES ACCORDING TO SHEN, AFTER RECHARGING THE UNIT IT ATTEMPTED TO RETURN TO JOE, SHEN QUICKLY SHUT DOWN IT'S FLIGHT FUNCTIONS AND REMOVED ITS MEMORY BANK, IN CASE OPERATIVES SZALAJ AND HAINSWORTH ARE IN DANGER SHEN PLACED IN A NEW MEMORY CORE TO THE UNIT AS WELL AS A TRACKING DEVICE AND LET IT RETURN TO JOE, OPERATIVE REPENTER WAS SENT TO SHADOW THE DRONE.

FIELD LOG: 011: DAY 55: SECONDARY ENTRY: FOOTAGE AND AUDIO RECOVERED FROM 'R-VER' UNIT HAS GIVEN US A CLEAR PICTURE ON WHERE OUR MISSING OPERATIVE ARE, BOTH JOE AND MITCHELL HAVE BEEN TAKEN TO A NEARBY SETTLEMENT, ESCORTED BY FOUR INDIVIDUALS, AUDIO FROM THE ENCOUNTER HAS GIVEN US SOME INFORMATION.

LOCATION - KINGDOM OF VALE - NOT SURE IF KINGDOM MEANS FEUDAL SOCIETY OR JUST TITLE OF WHERE WE ARE. ALSO, THERE IS APPARENTLY AT LEAST ONE OTHER KINGDOM CALLED 'ATLAS', RULED BY SOMEONE CALLED 'IRONWOOD'? {ONES NAMED QROW AND TAIYANG APPARENTLY HAVE NO LOVE OF 'IRONWOOD' OR 'ATLAS}

HUNTSMEN - MILITARY FORCE? - THE FOUR FIGURES AFTER JOE COMPLETED THEIR STORY REFERRED TO THEMSELVES AS HUNTSMEN.

FIELD LOG: 012: DAY 56: OPERATIVE REPENTER AS WELL AS JOE'S 'R-VER' UNIT RETURNED, JOE, MITCHELL, AND THE FOUR HUNTSMEN BOARDED A FORM OF AIRSHIP WHOS END DESTINATION WAS 'VALE'? REPENTERS REPORT WAS THEM GOING TO 'VALE', MIGHT BE A SIMPLE COMMUNICATION ERROR, UNSURE.

OPTION'S WERE DISCUSSED, NOTHING PROMISING, JOE AND MITCHELL FROM THE RECORDINGS WERE CLEARLY NOT TAKEN BY FORCE.

CURRENT PLAN IS TO HEAD TO THE TOWN THEY LEFT FROM, BY AIRSHIP, ALL ARMOR AND EQUIPMENT THAT WE CANNOT CONCEAL IS BEING LEFT BEHIND, WE DON'T WANT TO BE MISTAKEN AS 'ATLAS' AGENTS INSIDE 'VALE'. THE DESCISON WASN'T POPULAR BUT DEEMED NESSICARY FOR THE TIME BEING.

CURRENT LOADOUT IS LIMITED TO PISTOLS ONLY AS WELL AS GRENADES, KAY WATSON HAS MANAGED TO HIDE HER SPIDER SUIT UNDERNEITHER CIVILIAN CLOTHING, THAT IS SOMETHING AT LEAST.

FIELD LOG: 013: DAY 60: ARRIVED IN VILLAGE OF ANSEL, APPROXIMATE POPULATION 500, VILLAGE SEEMS TO SURVIVE DUE TO A NEARBY LUMBER CAMP THAT EMPLOYS ROUGHLY 60% OF POPULATION, MOST FOOD SEEMS TO BE IMPORT FROM 'VALE'? ASIDE FROM LUMBER CAMP VILLAGE SEEMS TO HOLD NOTHING ELSE OF INTEREST, WAYNE QUENNELLE HAS VOLUNTEERED TO SEEK EMPLOYMENT AT LUMBER CAMP, UNTIL WE KNOW MORE EVERYONE IS ATTEMPTING TO GATHER ANY INTELLIGENCE AS WELL AS EARN ENOUGH 'LIEN' TO BOOK PASSAGE FOR SEVEN TO 'VALE'?

* * *

"See I told you their story wouldn't make sense."

"Making sense and being the truth are not necessarily opposites Taiyang, their story aside both men have behaved themselves quite well, even refusing to rise to the bait I'm sure Qrow paid them during your trip back."

"Yeah, if they belonged to Atlas we would have probably had more than a few fights on our hands, bringing up them or your buddy Ironwood got exactly zero response. The only time it felt like we were in any danger of a fight was when the ladies were still hiding in the woods, oddly it felt like they wanted to fight me more than anyone."

"Taiyang, you do have a presence about you that people can find infuriating."

"What? You mean my dashing good looks or my renowned wit and charm?"

"Yes, something like that." Ozpin watched the young man fawn over himself and could understand quite easily why people new to him often disliked the man a great deal.

Turning from Taiyang who had lost track of the conversation Ozpin turned to the only other person in the room. "Summer, has there been any word from the Branwen's yet?"

"Yes, both Branwen's have reported that six other's matching the descriptions Joe and Mitchell supplied us have entered Ansel, the missing seventh they spoke of 'SPARK' has not seen, Raven assumes much like Joe's flying unit which we allowed to return, 'SPARK' would draw too much attention and is currently not accompanying the others."

"What are they doing in Ansel?"

"So far as Qrow and Raven can tell, working and gathering information. The one's named Wayne, and Repenter are employed at the lumber yard, Tygan and Shen seem to be attempting to learn about what machinery and communication equipment the town has, Kay has been simply sightseeing as far as the twins can tell and the one called Bradford spends most of his time interacting with an as Qrow describe's it, a weird looking see through scroll strapped to his wrist."

"So as of so far no hostile or retaliatory action committed by any member of the group?"

"No, sir"

"Send word back to the twins to watch them for a few more days, just in case, in the mean time prepare a bullhead to retrieve them all, I will take charge of informing our two guests of our agenda."

* * *

So... Steampunk world / Alternate reality?"

"Hmm, possibly, though the black creatures, maybe a touch of Lovecraftian horror."

"That's Cthulhu right?"

"Yeah."

"Hmm, I would have put the creatures more in the Bram Stroker setting."

"That's a fair guess, particularly with the amount of wolf creatures, the Bears, and that Huge Skorpion is definitely not Bram Stroker."

"The people here refer to them as Grimm, wasn't there a pair of German brothers who told fairy tales that went by that name?"

"I think so, I don't remember much of those stories though, all I remember is the original stories were a lot more sinister than what survived to exist when we were growing up."

"So Steampunk world, based loosely on old German fairy tales with some Bram Stroker and Lovecraft horror mixed in? Sound like a fair approximation to you Joe?"

"I guess, certainly enough small similarities between this world and our own, at least through books and old fairy tales, at least with what we have learned so far." Joe reclined on the couch of the small room the two men shared.

After arriving in Vale or more specifically Beacon, they had been told, the men met with a person they assumed was in charge, Headmaster Ozpin listened to Joe repeat his story again though unlike when it was told to Taiyang, Ozpin seemed to sincerely listen and would stop and ask questions, his largest focus was on whether or not the force that conquered our world would be following to do the same the his.

Neither Joe or Mitchell had been able to supply him with a satisfactory answer, after the fight against the Grimm, Tygan, and Shen had explained to everyone that the Commander sacrificed his life to make sure the portal and all equipment and data were destroyed.

Following that meeting there had been a few separate meeting's between Ozpin and either Joe or Mitchell, after that the two men had been given a room to live in for the time being, both were surprised to find that not only their equipment had been returned but also their weapons as well as the exact amount of ammunition they had the day they met Taiyang's team, both were surprised by this assuming they would at least test the capabilities of their weapons.

The door to their room slide open and both men quickly stood as the man they recognized as Ozpin stepped into the room.

"Please, both of you no need to stand I am here to inform you of a few things. First off your companions have arrived in Ansel, and apparently are trying to earn Lien as well as gather information, in a few days I will be sending a ship to retrieve them as long as they do not display any hostile behavior."

"How are you keeping tabs on them? I already told you the 'R-VER' unit I sent back would give them images of the four huntsmen who we left with."

"Qrow and Raven have certain, special, abilities that allow them advantages."

"Is this something about these things called Semblance's and Aura we have overheard people talk about?" Mitchell asked, he was intensely curious about these, he overheard the mention of Aura multiple times in reference to Joe and himself and only once about something called a Semblance which seemed to be on a level above Aura.

"No, Qrow and Ravens abilities are from a different source in that regard, but still something similar. Though now that you have brought up the subject I have been giving some thought to both Aura and Semblance's."

Both men turned to Ozpin and listened with a focused interest that to even Ozpin was mildly disconcerting.

"On our world, Aura is the manifestation of one's soul, it is if activated, enhances a person's durability as well as strength, but it comes with a drawback, the activation of one's Aura means forever more Grimm will be drawn to you."

"So, you gain enhanced strength and durability but the trade off is these Grimm creatures, what actively hunt you?" Joe asked with a serious expression.

"In a sense, nearby Grimm will be more aware of your presence but if you are worried that you would pull in Grimm from hundreds of miles away then no, it is a localized effect."

Joe and Mitchell both nodded once to acknowledge they understood.

"Semblances are abilities that that typically manifest in people who have their Aura unlocked, though there are exceptions where people activate a Semblance before they have their Aura unlocked."

"When you say Abilities what exactly do you mean?" Joe asked pointedly.

"Hmm abilities are not unique but how do I explain this, Okay how about an example." Ozpin reached for an item in his pocket which easily resembled a cell phone, but each had heard it referred to as a scroll. "Glynda could you please come to the guest quarters in the North Wing."

"Certainly Headmaster, I will be there shortly."

"Um, if you need a partner to show off your Semblance I could fill the role no need to bring anyone else here." Mitchell added as Ozpin closed his scroll.

"Oh no that is not the case, I cannot show you my Semblance, for mine to activate I need to die, it's actually quite annoying and I prefer not doing that." Ozpin smiled as both men appeared confused with his response.

After a short wait the door to the room swung open once again and entered through it was a young blonde woman, wearing a tight fitting blouse and skirt and seemingly overjoyed to be in the presence of Ozpin, her eyes reluctantly strayed long enough to acknowledge the two other men in the room, her eyes briefly went wide in shock after seeing the size of Mitchell.

Glynda did not remain long, after a brief display of her Semblance to use as an example Ozpin sent her to resume her duties elsewhere, much to Mitchell's dismay as he stared at the woman with a lovestruck expression.

Joe looked at his companion and simply rolled his eyes. "So a Semblance is simply an otherworldly power?"

"To put it simply yes, as you could see with Glynda she can control anything as long as it is within a certain distance of herself. Not all Semblances are fully activated by the user, my own is Passive and only activates upon my death, others require certain emotions or in certain unfortunate cases they persist permanently with not way to turn off." Ozpin sounded remorseful with his final comment.

"You spoke of Aura as something you could unlock? If I were to volunteer freely could you or would you attempt to unlock my Aura to see if we even possess it?" Mitchell chimed in, refocusing on the conversation now that the distraction was gone.

"Hmm, I don't see why not, alright let us give this a try."

* * *

 **Some more Advent Failure!**

 **Nothing much going on yet, though you all get to see my take on the STRQ team dynamic, well before kids and errant mothers.**

 **Anyways had fun writing this chapter.**

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	4. Chapter 4

MISSION REPORT: REMNANT EXCLUSION TEAM: PRIORITY ENTRY: OPERATIVE MITCHELL CRITICALLY WOUNDED DURING AURA UNLOCKING EXPERIMENT CONDUCTED BY HEADMASTER OZPIN OF BEACON ACADEMY. MITCHELL VOLUNTEERED FOR EXPERIMENT WILLINGLY AS SENIOR OFFICER AFTER HEARING LITTLE TO NO RISK INVOLVED WITH PROCEDURE I ALLOWED HIM TO PROCEED.

PROCEDURE WAS A SUCCESS. MITCHELL HAS AURA UNLOCKED. HOWEVER, I DO NOT RECCOMEND ANY OTHER MEMBERS OF X-COM UNDERGO AURA UNLOCKING UNTIL A TIME WHEN PROCEDURE BE MADE SAFER IF AT ALL POSSIBLE.

OPERATIVE MITCHELL WAS ENTIRELY CONSUMED WITH THIRD DEGREE BURN'S DUE TO HIS AURA BEING UNLOCKED.

HEADMASTER OZPIN ALSO WOUNDED DURING THIS EVENT, SUFFERED THIRD DEGREE BURNS TO HANDS AND ARMS AS WELL AS SECOND DEGREE BURNS TO FACE, TORSO, AND LEGS. OPZIN TO BE CREDITED TO BEING RESPONSIBLE FOR PERSERVING MITCHELL'S LIFE DURING THE EVENT.

* * *

FIELD LOG: 014: DAY 67: APPROACHED ON SEVENTH DAY IN ANSEL BY ONE OF THE FOUR HUNTSMEN FROM JOE'S R-VER UNIT. ALSO ACCOMPANIED BY JOE AND AN UNFAMILIAR WOMAN WHO IS REFERRED TO AS GLYNDA GOODWITCH. JOE INFORMED ME OF AN INCIDENT INVOLVING MITCHELL. TYGAN IMMEDIATELY DEPARTED ON AIRCRAFT DUBBED 'BULLHEAD' WITH MS. GOODWITCH TO COLLECT SOME OF TYGAN'S EQUIPMENT AND THEN TO PROCEED TO VALE TO SEE IF HE CAN RENDER ANY AID. WAYNE SENT AS ESCORT.

* * *

MEDICAL LOG: OBSERVER: RICHARD TYGAN: PATIENT: MITCHELL HAINSWORTH:

IMMEDIATE ASSESMENT WITH STANDARD EARTH DIAGNOSIS. MITCHELL HAINSWORTH SHOULD BE DEAD. BURN'S ARE PRESENT ON ALL INTERNAL ORGAN'S, NO REASONABLE MEANS TO COLLECT SAMPLES FROM ORGANS BUT X-RAYS HAVE PAINTED A CLEAR PICTURE ON EXTENT OF DAMAGE.

SUPPLEMENTAL NOTE: MEDICAL FACILITIES ON REMNANT APPEAR TO BE SIMILAR TO THAT OF EARLY 21ST CENTURY EARTH PRE-INVASION. SOME MEDICAL EQUIPMENT SEEMS FAR MORE ADVANCED THOUGH NOTABLY SO FAR X-RAY AND IMAGING DEVICES.

SEEING AS MITCHELL IS STABLE AND RECOVERING AT A REMARKABLE PACE DUE LIKELY TO THE AURA HE UNLOCKED WHILE RECEIVING THESE INJURIES. I HAVE COLLECTED MATERIALS FROM MITCHELL AND CHECK FOR ABNORMALITIES AS HIS RECOVERY PROCEEDS.

* * *

FIELD LOG: 015: DAY 68: ALL AGENTS ACCEPTED INVITATION TO VALE (NAME OF BOTH KINGDOM AND PRIMARY CITY). WE WERE EVEN RECCOMENDED TO BRING OUR ARMAMENT. ( MYSELF AND REMAINING AGENTS ACCEPT BOTH OFFERS OF TRANSPORT AS WELL AS REARMING OURSELVES)

FIELD LOG: 016: DAY 69: ARRIVAL IN VALE. SPECIFIC LOCATION BEACON. HUNTSMEN ACADEMY. EVERY MEMBER PLACED THROUGH AN INTERVIEW PROCESS CONDUCTED BY GLYNDA GOODWITCH. (DISTINCT IMPRESSION SHE DISLIKES THE MORE MILITARISTIC MEMBERS OF THE GROUP, MYSELF, WAYNE, JOE, AND REPENTER.) AFTER INTERVIEWS WE WERE ASSIGNED QUARTERS. TOMMOROW TYGAN, SHEN, AND I ARE TO MEET WITH OZPIN.

FIELD LOG: 017: DAY 70: INNITAL MEETING WITH OZPIN WAS 'ODD' FOR LACK OF A BETTER WORD, TYGAN AND SHEN BOTH APPEARED NOT TO NOTICE ANYTHING OUTWARDLY STRANGE. MIGHT BE MY OWN PARANOIA BUT THE 'HEADMASTER' SEEMED TO SPEAK IN AN EVASIVE MANNER, LIKE SOMEONE ACCUSTOMED TO LYING OR MANIPULATION.

* * *

"I can't believe Ozpin didn't even let you test their weapons." Qrow took a long drink from his glass, the two men of team STRQ found themselves in a bar, the two ladies absent as ever. "You saw as well as I did how well that 'Mag-Rifle' I think he called it tore through that Deathstalker. That was the huge bastard Ansel had hired us to deal with. That fight would have taken the four of us an hour or so to wear the thing down before we Raven or myself would have had a chance to attack it properly and one 'Atlas' puke dropped it in seconds!" Qrow ranted, he didn't believe their story at all and couldn't understand why Ozpin was even bothering to humor the obvious Atlas flunkies. "To top everything off Ozpin confiscated our Pay from Ansel, 'Don't accept payment for something you didn't do.' What a load of crap, Deathstalkers dead and we brought back presents and he just takes our damn money. No god damn respect." Qrow swayed slightly, the act of ranting his woes with the amount of alcohol in his blood was suddenly causing him issues.

"First of all it's not like he took all our money, he gave the amount to cover our travel expenses and I was able to spend the better part of a week away from you, the only downside was your sister remained behind as well," Tai spoke sarcastically, the two men had a mutual understanding that Raven was off limits because she would probably kill both of them if she ever caught wind she was spoken of in any sort of manner. "And secondly you know as well as the next guy on how touchy Atlas gear is, anyone who's not certified with a stick up his ass couldn't operate one of their weapons if they tried."

Qrow sat in silence, annoyed about a great many things and his regular night out with Taiyang wasn't have the usual effect of placating his attitude like it usually did. This meant only one thing to Qrow and that was Tai was going to drop a ball of drama in his lap and he needed at least three more beers before he even wanted to consider listening to whatever tale of heartbreak and woe that his partner was going to drop on him this time. Knowing that it was better to just bite the bullet and listen to him gripe he ordered the beers and downed them in a record-setting time before turning to his partner.

"Sho," Qrow spoke with a slur his voice sounding wrong to his ears but he attempted nonetheless. "Which gurl broke your heart thish time." Qrow settle onto his stool prepared to listen to a long sappy tirade about some airhead Tai had met a week prior, fell in love with and then true to form and ego had driven her away at a record-setting pace, in preparation for the story even in his drunken state he pulled out his scroll to check a message he had just felt vibrate in his pocket.

Tai started into his story and Qrow nodded along putting up the facade of paying attention when instead he read his team leader's message.

 **: Sober up we have a job and we leave tonight meet at the usual place:**

Simple straight and to the point, Qrow loved that about Summer, it was a trait she shared with Raven but unlike his sister, Summer made it a positive thing while Raven just seemed to tread a narrow line of an order or possible threat, neither of which made her very endearing unless you were a lovestruck idiot like Taiyang who couldn't refuse anything his sister told him to do even if the Blonde had a girlfriend at the time.

Qrow hauled his partner to his feet, Taiyang was awful with booze and yet still tried to keep pace with Qrow, much to his regret, though Qrow had a liver of Iron even felt swayed by the amount he had ingested tonight and found it difficult to move let alone assist Taiyang.

Groaning in agony he forced himself forward and made his way to the usual place, once outside the cool late afternoon breeze perked him up slightly and brought Taiyang around enough to use his own legs.

By the time they hit the shower's, cleaned up, grabbed their gear and made it to the Bullhead docks they looked almost professional, that was until they both saw a figure across from them.

Both had seen Kay Watson already and while Taiyang had flirted like he was want to do, neither men had been struck by her appearance.

Kay stood at only 5'6" and 175pounds, he face had sharp feature's that many would consider attractive but he attitude made her hard to approach, Tai had flirted as a force of habit only to be shot down in a pretty impressive fashion as Kay ignored him entirely during that one brief meeting where they had crossed paths.

Now though, Taiyang was set to try again and Qrow stood there with him, neither man could keep their eyes off her as she stood ready to depart his MAG-Sniper held in front of her.

Until this point both men had only seen her in bulky gear every member of her group wore, now while she was still wearing the gear it was hugged tighter to her frame due to some harness she wore over her clothing, the harness pulled her clothing tighter to the skin and showed off not just her ample chest but the curves of her body and hips.

Neither man could tell how toned she was but with the weight she appeared to be carrying seemed to not bother her at all and both men imagined what was hidden underneath the Blue and Black digital colored clothing.

"Qrow, do you know where Raven is? She didn't respond to any of my messages."

"Beats me, you know almost as well as I do on how hard she can be to find." Qrow shrugged, he had long since stopped caring too much about his sister's disappearances, sometimes they were frequent other times she wouldn't vanish for months only to be gone for a time equal to when she was here. "Not like we haven't left her behind before, she will either catch up or she won't that's her problem."

Summer looked at Qrow knowing he was right but frustrated none the less over the fourth member of her team constantly being away. "Your right, come on get on the bullhead we have been hired by Ozpin personally to act as observers and escorts and if necessary protection for Ms. Watson."

"Protection from what?"

"Nest of Giant Nevermore's, that big bastard that has been harassing Bullheads at the far eastern side of the Emerald Forest, Ozpin found the nest and want's it gone as well as a display of just how powerful these X-COM weapons are and their leader, that Bradford fellow volunteered her." Summer climbed into the Bullhead followed by Qrow.

Next came Kay who was simply ignoring Taiyang who had completely forgotten his recent breakup and was turning on the charm, when he offered to help the woman on the Bullhead Kay turned and with a motion those present found difficult to follow Kay had Taiyang on the ground one arm twisted behind his back with her knee pinning it in place, his other arm was fully extended with one of Kay's legs pushing against the elbow joint and her arm pulling back, applying just enough pressure to send a clear message to the prone Taiyang.

Without a word of regret or apology, Kay released the hold her point made and she boarded the Bullhead in silence.

Qrow and Summer sat stunned in the bullhead, Taiyang was a master of hand to hand combat one of the best Beacon had ever produced and here he was flat on the ground by a girl almost a head shorter than him and definitely lighter and she had placed him in a submission hold none of those present were familiar with.

The silence was broken when Qrow burst into laughter as a red-faced and unhappy looking Taiyang silently boarded the Bullhead sitting as far away from everyone as he could on the small craft.

The initial portion of the journey was made in silence with the exception of Qrow moving closer to Taiyang to continue silently mocking the man's failed attempt at flirting and poke fun at his wounded pride for being bested even if by surprise in an encounter involving no weapons.

"Is he always like that?"

"Flirtatious? Yeah, thats Taiyang in a nutshell."

"No, I meant Undisciplined. You seem to hold yourself with a certain... decorum and the other Male at least seems to respect boundaries."

"Oh, well thank you first of all and Discipline isn't exactly a key trait earned by Huntsmen, at least not those who haven't yet experienced what the world can be like." Summer seemed to recede into her hood slightly. "That isn't to say I wouldn't trust him or any of my partners with my life, Discipline might be a thing we four lack, but Loyalty is something we have in spades."

"You say that and yet one of your number is missing." Kay stated frankly leaving no real argument for Summer to respond with.

Pulling out a positioning device Summer quickly looked at their current location and that of the Nevermore nest, with a loud knock on the cockpit door to signal she wanted to land and the Bullhead began to descend.

"How close are we to the target?"

"Roughly about five miles, we will walk the rest of the way to make sure the Nevermore won't attack our Bullhead."

"What sort of terrain does the nest lie on? What is the surrounding Terrain like?"

"The Nest is located in a dried lake bed, the terrain is dense forest around the Lake in every direction."

"How far do those Cliff's extend?" Kay pointed to a long Plateau that ran parallel with their direction and seemed to if her estimation was correct travel beyond the distance the needed to cover.

"They run about another eight miles."

"Estimated distance from the top of the Plateau to the Nest at the closest points?"

Summer quickly brought up the positioning device she held and with a few gestures found the information Kay requested. "Roughly 650 to 750 meters." Summer replied.

"And how large is one of these Nevermore's again?"

"The can grow to be double the size of the Bullhead we traveled here on, the ones we are tasked to deal with are roughly the size of a Bullhead or smaller."

"Simple enough, we should make for the cliffside plateau I will set up there." Kay shouldered her rifle and forged into the brush hand kept ready at her side to draw her sidearm at a moments notice.

"We already have a detailed survey of the area, there is no need to scale the cliff."

"Oh, no that's where I will be firing from."

Summer stopped in her tracks for a moment, she knew people who used long range high caliber weaponry as their weapon of choice but the longest record range of a dust weapon was around 300M. "Your Rifle is capable of hitting that range?"

"Easily, back on our world we had Rifles that were capable of shots over 3000M, mine has never been tested at that range, most conflicts I was deployed in were Urban environments where I was shooting under 200M. During test firing, though I was able to hit targets up to 1500M and if your description of the size of a Nevermore is accurate then hitting it won't be a problem, my concern is stopping power." Kay walked at a brisk pace through the forest covering the rough terrain like a professional, she was only beaten by Mitchell when it came to trekking through environments, the large man had a ridiculous traveling pace across all types of terrain and nothing ever seemed to effect him.

"Wow to call any weapon on Remnant a Sniper rifle compared to yours is laughable."

"How so?"

"Well unless assisted by a Semblance I think the longest range weapon at the moment has an effective range of only 300M maybe 400M"

"Oh."

The rest of the trip passed in silence as occasionally they would stop and one of the Three Huntsmen would move forward to deal with a wayward Grimm or two, each time the battles were short brutal and silent, Kay even begrudgingly noted that the Blonde male was capable of handling himself according to the situations needs, she still disliked his personality but could understand why his team got along with him, she had much the same interaction with her team, Mitchell and Wayne weren't exactly the ideal people she would have wanted on her team but the carefree and honest Mitchell was a welcome friend and colleague and Wayne as strict and Formal as he was showed a softer side when dealing with children, both men had endeared themselves to her with time.

* * *

MISSION REPORT: OPERATION BIRD KILLER (SERIOUSLY THATS THE NAME YOU ASSIGNED TO THIS BRADFORD?) : RESULTS : NEVERMORE NEST DESTROYED 13 CONFIRMED KILLS. HUNTSMAN SUMMER ROSE MARKED THE DEAD NEVERMORE AS SUCH, 9 MINOR, 3 MAJOR, 1 ALPHA. APPARENT CLASSIFACTION OF THREAT LEVEL OF GRIMM? 12 OF THE 13 KILL'S CONFIRMED WITH SINGLE ROUND THROUGH SKULL OF NEVERMORE. ALPHA LEVEL NEVERMORE TOOK TWO ROUNDS TO GROUND THE CREATURE AND A THIRD ROUND TO KILL.

* * *

"These are some impressive weapons you and your men carry Bradford." Ozpin looked over the detailed report Summer had written and handed in after their return to Beacon.

"Impressive by your standard's, I personally am in awe of your own, the gear shift system housed inside your weapons is fascinating," Bradford spoke honestly, Ozpin had shown him a collection of Huntsmen weapons from Beacons armory and the sheer amount of different variations and customizability had left him bewildered, Bradford rarely wanted for anything in his life outside of freeing Humanity, now though he wanted one of these weapons for himself.

A silence fell between the two men, a comfortable one, Bradford still felt Ozpin was one who kept secrets that impression stuck with him but as far as he cared unless the Headmaster brought the topic to him it was not his place to ask.

"Have you thought about what you and your people will be doing going forward?"

"Honestly, no, we were brought together to fight a common enemy and failed... twice in my case. I think, I think maybe I will let them decide how they want to live their lives on this new world."

"That is a respectable decision, if you stick by that what would be your choice on how you would live your life?"

Ozpin's simple question struck a cord in his mind, letting the others freely leave to explore this world in whatever manner they saw fit to was a sensible thing to do from his perspective but he wasn't entirely sure when asked what he wanted.

"I'm not sure, to be honest, I will inform the others in the morning though but until Mitchell has recovered, If it is fine with you may I tread upon your hospitality for the time being?"

"Certainly."

* * *

FINAL ENTRY: BRADFORD : X-COM : MADE MY FINAL ANNOUNCEMENT AS COMMANDER OF X-COM. FORCE HAS BEEN DISBANDED AND THE OTHERS ARE FREE TO PURSUE WHATEVER THEY WISH. OZPIN HAS WENT THROUGH THE PROCESS OF REGISTERING US ALL AS MEMBERS OF THE VALE KINGDOM AND HAS INSTRUCTED ONE OF HIS COLLEAGUES PROFESSOR BARTHOLEMEW OoBLECK TO PROVIDE CRASH COURSES IN REMNANT HISTORY, GEOGRAPHY, AND THE POLITICAL LANDSCAPE.

EVERY MEMBER WAS PROVIDED AN OFFICAL HUNTSMAN LICENCE EVERYONE ACCEPTED THE LICENCE WITH THE EXCEPTIONS OF RICHARD TYGAN AND LILY SHEN.

I WILL BE REMAINING IN VALE FOR THE FORCEABLE FUTURE TO AWAIT MITCHELL'S RECOVERY AND INFORM HIM OF HIS NEWFOUND FREEDOM.

* * *

FINAL ENTRY : AMMENDUM : ONCE THE OTHERS HAD TIME TO DISCUSS THEIR OPTIONS AND MY DECISION TO REMAIN IN VALE WITH THE INJURED MITCHELL THE FORMER MEMBERS OF X-COM INFORMED ME OF THEIR DECISIONS AND ALSO ASKED IF I WOULD BE SORT OF A HOME STATION HERE IN VALE SOMEWHERE THEY COULD RETURN TO, THE NOTION STRUCK A CORD WITH ME AND INFLUENCED MY DECISION. OZPIN AND I ARE GOING OVER POSITIONS I COULD FILL TO EARN MY KEEP.

OPERATIVE LOCATION/DESTINATION : JOE SZALAJ : AFTER HEARING OF THE KINGDOM OF ATLAS FROM A LESS BIASED SOURCE HAS LEFT TO STUDY DUST AND ATLESIAN TECHNOLOGY.

OPERATIVE LOCATION/DESTINATION : MITCHELL HAINSWORTH : VALE - BEACON INFRIMIRY EXPECTED FULL RECOVERY TIME 3 - 6 MONTHS. ( AURA SEEMS TO BE ACCELERATING THE PROCESS BUT BURN DAMAGE WAS EXTENSIVE )

OPERATIVE LOCATION/DESTINATION : KAY WATSON : CHOSEN TO REMAIN IN VALE, SHE HAS ALSO CHOSEN TO STUDY GRIMM AND METHODS OF KILLING. (DECISION LIKELY BASED ON NEW FRIENDSHIPS MADE WITH SUMMER ROSE)

OPERATIVE LOCATION/DESTINATION : WAYNE QUENNELLE : HEADED TO MENAGERIE. ( DECISION DEEMED IMPETIOUS BUT WAS WISHED WELL BY MYSELF AND COLLEAGUES)

OPERATIVE LOCATION/DESTINATION : REPENTER : REMAINING IN VALE HAS APPROACHED OZPIN FOR WORK.

OPERATIVE LOCATION/DESTINATION : LILY SHEN : TRAVELLING TO ATLAS UNDER HOPES TO ADAPT ATLAS TECH TO REBUILD SPARK.

OPERATIVE LOCATION/DESTINATION : RICHARD TYGAN : CHOSEN TO REMAIN IN VALE AT LEAST UNTIL MITCHELL RECOVERS, SPENDS CONSIDERABLE AMOUNT OF TIME IN THE COMPANY OF PROFESSOR OoBLECK.

* * *

 **Before anyone gets worried, no this isn't me killing this story because I don't want to write it.**

 **From the inception, I intended for the members of X-COM to split up shortly after arriving on Remnant.**

 **Now starts the real fun as I can focus chapters of certain characters without really having to worry too much about how things would affect the others.**

 **For now, I'm going back to writing Well this is Different!? as I just started into a major arc for that story and want to give it all the attention it deserves.**

 **Until next time!**


	5. Chapter 5

Wayne felt he probably should have heeded everyone's suggestion that maybe Menagerie wasn't the best destination.

Oobleck's lessons on the political climate of this world barely did the situation justice, Wayne stood on the pier of some island he couldn't even find the name off on his Scroll and felt hopelessly lost but refused to admit defeat.

He had a goal and that was to meet these Faunus, he liked to believe that in the years he had been apart of X-COM he had kept his 'unique' preferences a secret, though judging from the looks he got from Kay and Joe before he left he was sure his squadmates knew.

He shrugged off the memory and instead focused on the present, he stood on the dock because he was waiting for a particular ferry that would take him to another no name island with only a couple shacks on it so that he could wait for the next ferry to take him gradually closer to his destination, he really had no idea how far he had to go still.

The heavenly island of Menagerie, where his dreams will come true and he will meet a sweet innocent monster girl and the two would fall instantly in love and live their lives in peace surrounded by happy children.

The simple thought of his dream sustained him during this painfully long wait, he stood alone on the dock his weapon strapped to his back and his hand resting casually on his pistol in case he had another altercation with the locals of this island like he had with the last.

The previous island he had headed inland since he was told he had a couple hour wait, being that he was hungry he had went to see what sort of shops might be present.

He hadn't made it far before being confronted by two Raccoon Faunus who tried and failed to rob him, the unfortunate duo assumed him to somehow be an easy target even though he clearly dwarfed both of them and had two visible weapons while each Faunus only had a simple knife each.

If that was the end of it he wouldn't have cared but every person he met, while no one else actively tried to rob him or hinder his progress all he received were hostile glares, he had eventually returned to the dock on that island to wait in silence much as he was doing now, the only difference here was that he was further south now and it was noticeably warmer.

Joe didn't hate the heat, back on his world he grew up enjoying hot summer days, no the heat didn't bother him, a nice dry heat he relished, what he was experiencing right now was anything but a dry heat, it was humid and muggy and his clothes were slowly soaking through but he endured it, he spent his time trying to ignore his clothes sticking to his massive frame by wondering what if any type of Faunus he could pass for if he needed to pretend to be one when he reached Menagerie proper.

There were many obvious choices he could pick with his frame that few would contest him on, his sandy blonde hair could easily let him pass as a large cat, he even thought if he let his hair grow longer and he stopped trimming his beard he could grow a pretty convincing main if he chose to try and pass himself off as a Lion Faunus, other options that seemed reasonable to him were bears or larger dog breeds.

He also toyed with the idea of going against his giant frame and trying pass as something silly like a tiny rabbit or squirrel Faunus.

Wayne kept himself pleasantly amused for many hours as the boat finally appeared, he no doubt scared those who here disembarking, likely in part to his massive frame but probably more so because of a stupid expression that was plastered across his face that he seemed oblivious to.

Boarding the boat he instantly noticed this one was different from the others he had ridden on during this trip. This one was easily three or four times larger than the previous vessels and this one was as close to immaculately clean and a ship could be.

Reaching the top of the ramp he was stopped by a small barrier and a tiny figure behind it.

"Identification!" The figure reached forward hand open waiting.

Wayne paused for a moment and studied the figure, he couldn't tell if the figure was a Faunus or not, no markings or obvious features, even the single word gave no indication to gender.

Reaching for one of his many pouches he pulled out a hard plastic card which he handed to the figure.

The figure in question looked at the card, swiped it through a scroll Wayne had missed noticing and began punching buttons on the device.

"Am I good?" His deep voice that sounded nearly perpetually angry caused for the first time the figure to look directly at him, the reaction was priceless to Wayne as the figure needed to not only step back to take him in entirely but also remove her cap, letting free a cute pair of cat ears.

"Kali, is everything alright?" A figure that stood even taller than Wayne appeared from around a corner.

"Yes Ghira, I was just surprised for a moment." The much smaller cat eared Faunus stared at Ghira her face flushed seemingly embarrassed for some reason.

"Well hurry it up, seem's like he's not the only pickup and a lines forming behind him, pick up the pace." With that Ghira vanished around the corner he had appeared from as someone bellowed his name.

"Sorry about that." Kali glanced once more in the direction Ghira had left before returning to her scroll. "Human, Huntsman hmmm..." her eye's shot up this time regarding him with fierce scrutiny, particularly his weapons. "What business do you have on Menagerie?"

The fierce scrutiny caused Wayne a moment of concern but years of experience in situations much worse than this allowed him to easily hide it. "Simply traveling the world, exploring is something that interests me and with my team disbanded I figured I would indulge the hobby, maybe take some jobs along the way to pay the bills." Wayne rattle off his mentally practiced story with ease, he had made sure before leaving Vale to have a talk with Oobleck on whether or not such a story would work or if the idea was ridiculous, Oobleck had given it a pass as many Huntsmen when their teams began to settle down or disband for various reasons those no longer tied to the groups would develop a form of wanderlust and would do much what he just described, travel aimlessly and work when they desired to.

"Well as a Huntsman you should be fine I guess, though be careful Menagerie isn't the most hospitable of places for Human's currently." Kali returned his identification and the barrier slid out of his way and he stood aboard the boat.

"Uh thanks, I'll keep that in mind." moving past the corner the Faunus Ghira had vanished behind he instantly spotted the taller man as he was effortlessly moving cargo from one end of the ship to another where other much smaller Faunus would either send the cargo down the ramp or place it off to the side for Ghira to pick up and carry it below deck. This larger boat seemed to carry cargo that supplied this smaller island as well as take good and materials back to Menagerie proper.

Lacking anything to do and not knowing if he was to offer help might be taken as an insult to the Faunus who labored.

Wayne found a quiet out of the way place to sit, pulling a piece of soapstone from his large duffel bag as well as a set of tools designed to carve stone, Wayne handled the tools and materials with great care, both items were among his only belongings he had brought along from Earth.

With a moments pause of consideration, he selected the tool he wanted and put it to the stone, drawing inspiration from the Faunus named Kali he began the meticulously removing material.

* * *

BRADFORD PERSONAL JOURNAL:

ENTRY 13:

Wayne has successfully made the trip to Menagerie.

I was relieved to hear from him this morning when he reached his destination and finally had access to a signal strong enough to report back with. According to him, his trip wasn't overly difficult but he did go on to mention that the Faunus are pretty hostile towards outsiders at least along the route to the main Isle or Menagerie.

He speaks of the place as a literal paradise, images he has sent make it look quite pleasant, remind's me of images of the islands in the Pacific back on Earth.

He didn't have much else to say, aside from his status as a Huntsman has spread rapidly and he has been swarmed by job requests, apparently, the island lacks a way to train Huntsman. We spoke about the others for a time I filled him with as much as I know myself, he was understandably concerned that I haven't heard from either Joe or Shen since shortly after they reached Atlas.

Their lack of communication at least in terms of Joe concerns me greatly but there is little I can do about it, Ozpin has agreed to look into the matter on my behalf, apparently he has deep connections with a 'Colonel Ironwood'.

Kay has become the unofficial fifth member of what I have come to learn is Team STRQ her presence is well received among the majority of the group with the exception of Taiyang, poor man has seemingly offended Kay repeatedly to his own deep regret, to everyone's surprise though 'Raven' the seemingly self titled social outcast of the team quite enjoy's Kay's company, not sure what to make of that and really not my business, I'm just glad Kay has found new people to bond with.

I haven't seen Repenter in over two months, he's working for Ozpin now, in a different way than I am.

I trust Ozpin to a certain degree but with Repenter's absence for so long after going to work for him I'm positive there is more to the Headmaster than he is sharing. Still, he has treated us all well so I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt, also Repenter is smart, and has a sense of morals that I know would lead him to do the right thing in any situation.

Tygan has been pouring over the three months of data he has collected since we've arrived he gave me the bullet points which I will add at the bottom of this entry.

Tygan also shows great concern about Mitchell, he has yet to awaken even though his burns are completely healed, moreover, Tygan managed to cobble together the equipment needed to get some neural readings from Mitchell and the results are concerning, to say the least.

Mitchell's mind is awake according to Tygan, not only awake but also active, after his initial tests made him doubt the equipment Tygan had left the machine on for multiple days and the results were similar, heavy brain activity, that would denote extreme activity but that was also paired with severe low times of activity as well that mirror the effects of sleep.

Tygan is keeping me up to date but he is unsure what to do about Mitchell, I am at a loss to suggest anything either, Dr. Oobleck has been assisting but he has had no constructive input either.

Both men have tried multiple means to wake Mitchell up but he remains unconscious, also as a side note Mitchell's muscle mass is not degrading at all, it may actually be increasing by Tygans last estimation, his condition is baffling.

RICHARD TYGAN REPORT:

MOON'S GRAVITY/PARTIAL DESTRUCTION MAKE CALCULATING AN ORBIT FOR ANY OF OUR LOW ORBIT SATALITES CURRENTLY IMPOSSIBLE. TYGAN INSISTS TO CONTINUE TRYING TO FIND A WAY.

AURA/ENERGY - AFTER A LONGER PERIOD OF STUDY TYGAN HAS MATCHED THE ENERGY IN THE AIR TO THAT OF A SIMILAR FREQUENCY OF AURA, TESTS HE PERFORMED ON HIMSELF, AND OTHERS LED TO A CONCLUSION THAT THOSE OF US THE CAME FROM EARTH WILL EVENTUALLY BE ABLE TO UNLOCK AURA. TYGAN AND OoBLECKS TIME FRAME PUTS THOSE OF USE FROM EARTH BEING ABLE TO SAFELY ACTIVATE AURA IN ROUGHLY 10-12 YEARS.

OoBLECK IS INTRIGUED BY THIS DISCOVERY, THE ENERGY IN THE ATMOSPHERE WAS UNKNOWN TO HIM AND HE HAS INVESTED A GREAT DEAL OF TIME IN HELPING TYGAN RESEARCH THE EFFECTS AND IT'S RELATIONSHIP WITH AURA.

MAGNETIC WEAPONRY - MATERIALS TO FABRICATE NEW WEAPONS DO NOT EXIST ON REMNANT. MATERIALS OR AT LEAST THOSE SIMILAR ENOUGH TO THE ORIGINAL'S DO EXIST TO FABRICATE MORE AMMUNITION FOR THE WEAPONS.

SUPPLEMENTAL NOTE - OZPIN REQUESTED OTHER TYPES OF AMMUNITION BE MADE FOR SEVERAL OF HIS WEAPONS. RESULTS WERE DISASTEROUS. EVEN AFTER REINFORCING THE WEAPONS, THE AMMUNITION WOULD CAUSE THE HUNTSMEN WEAPONS IRREPAIRABLE DAMAGE.

* * *

 **It lives!  
**

 **Ha, alright so Well this is Different!? is passed the point of conflict so I'm spreading out my time and adding chapters to my other stories again and I'm starting strong ( kinda ) with ADVENT Failure.**

 **This might not be my most well-received story but as a whole I enjoy writing it the most as I can indulge in something I never do, OC!**

 **This chapter focused heavily on Wayne, for those who read this I assume you are fans of the X-com franchise and know that the soldiers are basically storyless blobs that shoot aliens, not much in the way of character.**

 **Each of the five OC is based on someone from my own personal life experiences. Wayne Quennelle is based heavily on my half brother, all of his personality as silly as it is in real life will be represented in Wayne. ( I don't know if Wayne has a Fetish for Monster Girls I simply thought it was a hilarious reason to send him to Menagerie. )**

 **Also buried near the bottom of this update is the two hints to the greater story that will be told.**

 **As ever have a great day.**


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